


something broke in me and i wanted to go home

by The_Bisexual_From_Hell



Category: Station 19 (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bittersweet Ending, Gen, Hurt, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I did not kill ripley, Sort of? - Freeform, What Was I Thinking?, Why Did I Write This?, hehe, killing travis made me sob fr, sorry about that trav, this is very sad and I cried while writing it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:35:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28667097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Bisexual_From_Hell/pseuds/The_Bisexual_From_Hell
Summary: Chief Ripley and Travis Montgomery have a conversation on his deathbed.
Relationships: Michael/Travis Montgomery, Victoria Hughes & Travis Montgomery, Victoria Hughes/Lucas Ripley
Comments: 8
Kudos: 17





	something broke in me and i wanted to go home

**Author's Note:**

> I just spent the entire night crying over Station 19 because I decided to rewatch and when I do that, I write angst, enjoy. I'm sorry for any mistakes, English isn't my first language and mt only beta is Grammarly

“Chief Ripley speaking,” The voice over the phone spoke, sounding exactly like one would imagine the Fire Chief of Seattle would. 

“Chief Ripley, I’m calling from Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital, Travis Montgomery was admitted an hour ago for heart failure, it doesn’t look good, he probably won’t make it through the night, you should hurry.” Nurse Roberts spoke over the phone, she felt really bad. She didn’t usually get sad over patients or family members, tragedy surrounded her, but she really liked Ripley, always visiting injured firefighters to make sure they knew they weren’t alone.

“Oh, Okay, thank you for letting me know, I’m on my way, tell him I’m on my way.” The Chief’s voice trembled over the phone. 

Roberts went into Montgomery’s room, it was clear the man was in bad shape, his heart had been damaged years ago, and it could no longer sustain him 

“Chief Ripley is on the way, don’t worry, I’m sure the sirens are on, it won’t be long now,” He had smiled at her, and proceeded to thank her profusely. Roberts returned to the nurses' station to wait for the Chief, she knew this was going to be a somber night. Less than 10 minutes passed before a breathless Chief Ripley stood in front of her. In her opinion, the Chief looked broken. 

“I’m here for Travis Montgomery,” Ripley spoke, voice cracking. 

“Room 6024. Do you need me to show you where that is?” Ripley didn’t even give an answer before running off, the Chief visited the hospital enough to know where everything was. 

Ripley ran to Travis’s room, before stopping at the door to look at the dying man.

“Uncle Travis,” Lorelai Hughes-Ripley spoke in a broken voice, sobs threatening to spill from her chest. 

“Lori. Hey baby girl,” Travis’ breathing was labored, his body was feeling the effects of a dying heart. That was all it took for Lori to make her way into the room and hold her favorite uncle’s hand. 

“Uncle Travis I don’t want you to die,” She was crying, this was the hardest she had cried since her mom’s death fifteen years ago. 

“I know Lori, I don’t want to leave you, but it’s my time to go.” 

“Please don’t die, I don't want to be alone. Please don’t leave me alone Uncle Travis,” She begged him despite knowing it was useless, she knew she would be losing another part of her family tonight. Her dad had died before she was born, her mom had died when she was still a Lieutenant. 

“Listen to me Lorelai, you’re not alone okay? You’ve got your wife, and your Aunt Jennifer and everyone from the old 19 crew.” Travis’ heart broke for her, he knew this was going to be difficult, and frankly, he loathed the idea of leaving her behind. He had helped Vic raise Lori since she was a baby, she was practically his daughter too. 

“Yeah, but you’re my favorite Uncle Travis,” 

“Don’t let your wife hear you say that.” His chest rattled as he laughed, she laughed along with him, sobs and all. “It’s going to be okay, I promise it’s all going to be okay,”

“How is everything supposed to be okay without you?” Lori was getting angry out of grief, not at Travis but at the universe for taking so much away from her. 

“Losing people hurts, I know it does, it breaks you apart from the inside out and it keeps going, even when you think you can’t take it,” He knew grief all too well, first he had Michael, who was the love of his life and then he had lost Vic, who was his person. “But, you’ll be okay, you’re the strongest person I’ve ever met besides your mom.” 

“Uncle Travis—”

“The day your mom died, she told me to tell you that being your mother had been the greatest privilege had ever had.” She knew those words by heart, it was the last thing her mom had told Uncle Travis before running into an unstable burning building to get Lori out. “And at the time, I didn’t quite understand what she had meant by that. Now I'm lying here dying and I get it, helping her raise you, watching you grow up and become the amazing woman you are today, it has been the best damn thing I’ve ever done.” 

She squeezed his hand tighter, so tight he thought it might break. It reminded him of the way Vic had held his hand when she was in labor. “I love you like a daughter, Lori” 

“I—” Lori couldn’t form any type of words, she called him Uncle Travis, but she loved him like a father, he had been there when her mom had died, he had kept her from falling apart even when he had just lost best friend. She loved her dad and she loved her Uncle Travis and she loved her mom and she loved her Aunt Jennifer and that was okay, they were all her parents in different ways. She had never met her dad, but her mom and Aunt Jennifer always told her stories, he had been her hero growing up, she loved him so much she often wondered how it was possible to miss someone you had never met. 

“I’m so proud of you, you remember that.” Travis was crying too “I’m so fucking proud and not just because you’re the best Fire Chief this city has had, I would be proud of you even if you had become an accountant. Your parents would be too.” 

“I’m going to tell Aunt Andy you said that,” Lori had replied, and Travis thought it was such a Vic thing to say, it made his heartache. 

“Go ahead and do that baby girl, your Aunt Andy agrees with me, it’s why she made you Fire Chief when she retired, you’re better than your dad, you’re better than Herrera.” Lori had spent more time at 19 growing up than Andy had and unlike Andy, she always knew she wanted to be a firefighter like her mom and the Fire Chief like her dad. It had all made her into one hell of a firefighter, she was the best of both her parents. 

“When you see my mom and my dad, can you tell them I love them and tell my mom that I said thank you for everything she ever did to me, that she was the best mom anyone could ever hope for?” She had stopped crying, it probably wouldn’t last much longer. “And tell Uncle Michael I look forward to meeting him one day.” 

“Of course baby girl.” At her words, Travis smiled and cried harder, he hadn’t wanted to die, but he had been ready to see Michael and Vic for a long time. “Don’t worry about me, Lori,” 

The heart monitors started beeping loudly, they didn’t have much time left. Lori stood up and leaned in to kiss Travis’ forehead like he did every night when she was a child 

“I’ll be okay Uncle Travis, thank you for everything. You can go home now,” As she spoke, his heart stopped and Lorelai’s world fell apart around her. 

* * *

Travis woke up in a place he didn’t recognize, everything was too bright and he was sort of disoriented. 

“Hi baby, I’ve missed you.” Spoke a man, who sounded familiar. 

“Michael?” Oh right, Travis was dead. 

“Welcome home Trav,” Said Michael right before Travis pulled him in for a hug and then a kiss. Travis had missed his husband so much, he never wanted to be apart again. 

“Stop hogging him, Michael, I want to say hi to my best friend,” God how had Travis missed that voice. Travis detached himself from his husband and launched himself at his best friend. 

“Vic,” He whispered almost in awe. Vic looked young, exactly like she did when they had met “I’ve missed you both so fucking much.”

Travis and Vic stopped hugging and he finally looked around, it was the house he had shared with Michael, and behind Vic was Lucas Ripley. 

“Lori wanted me to tell you—” 

“We know, we saw.” Ripley no longer sounded like the Chief, Travis supposed he should get used to that. “Thank you, for looking after her when we couldn’t,” 

“My pleasure, your daughter is the most precious thing in the world,”

“Oh we know,” Said Vic. 

“I’m looking forward to meeting our niece, hopefully not soon,” Michael spoke as he reached to hold Travis’ hand. 

Lori had been right, he’d gone home. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> It broke me to write that and I'm so sorry to inform you that I have an even more painful fic in the works. Worry not though, tomorrow's drabble for "wake up and start a big fire" will be fluffy as hell. 
> 
> Follow me on Twitter @DXNYARYA for more station 19/Grey’s Anatomy and other wacky stuff
> 
> Please leave a comment or a kudos it would make me the happiest person alive 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it.


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